Bacteria might communicate using radio waves

[Archean]

New findings by researchers at Northeastern University in Boston shows that single-celled bacteria such as E. coli might communicate "within a community" using similar radio waves to those used in AM and FM radio transmissions.

The research revolves around a feature called circular DNA (DNA loops), which is found in simple organisms like viruses and bacteria. As free electrons move around these loops, a radio wave can be produced -- and as quantum objects, these electrons can also take on different energy levels. It is posited that these two factors could allow bacteria to transmit radio waves at frequencies of 0.5, 1 and 1.5KHz.

That is creepy all right, knowing that bacteria inside you can communicate through radio waves but you can't

Hopefully this find will help them come up with techniques to control and eliminate dangerous/terminal diseases caused by bacteria/viruses etc.

 

[Leeky]

Wow, that is creepy. Its hard to imagine though, but lets hope it provides for a decent break through to combat the worst diseases.

 

[Archean]

Yup, but on a lighter note, wouldn't it be nice if we could communicate like that? Then I guess we wouldn't have (or need) any 'smart phones' or mobile phones for that matter.

 

[Leeky]

Yeah, that would be rather awesome!

 

[red1776]

Communicate??
some have their own column.

 

[Archean]

Okay ..... so does that mean they will one day evolve into some intelligent life form which can simply radio-talk/column sharing experiences with other and take over the world ...... arrr I mean humans.

But one thing, I wonder if we can use the same 'radio communication' technique and program them to get rid of all 'un-wanted people', e.g. pliticians?

 

[red1776]

Okay ..... so does that mean they will one day evolve into some intelligent life form which can simply radio-talk/column sharing experiences with other and take over the world ...... arrr I mean humans.

But one thing, I wonder if we can use the same 'radio communication' technique and program them to get rid of all 'un-wanted people', e.g. pliticians?

I think that would need to wait for the development of the tractor beam.

 

[Lurker101]

Does that mean you can confused them by lying down and putting a radio on your chest?

 

[Archean]

Even if your radio emit signals which tells them to 'join it' I am not sure this technique will fool them forever, on the contrary, they may end up having a 'more powerful radio transmitter' to communicate.

 

[Lokalaskurar]

That's scary! Or just plain cool... If bacteria can communicate using radio, then it could mean our cells communicate using radio as well!

Sebastian Anthony @ ExtremeTech said:
More importantly, though, if simple organisms can communicate using radio waves -- and have been communicating using radio waves for billions of years -- it would shake the entire bedrock of modern science. Montagnier's work suggests that cells can send electromagnetic imprints of itself to other, remote cells, but why stop there? If human cells also communicate using radio waves, we might be able to create a digital, silicon-based interface for 'hacking' our physiological infrastructure. Furthermore, depending on the range of a cell's wireless communication range, this new finding might even go some way to explaining 'fringe sciences' like telepathy and clairvoyance.

Sh**, I don't want any hackers trying to hack my physiological appearance...

Also, this may also lead to some interesting discoveries regarding "Are cellular electro-magnetic fields dangerous?" - if cells really do communicate using radio, then the EM-fields might just upset the natural balance of things. Or so I think...

 

[Archean]

@Loka
Not just physiological apperance, infact the possibilities are endless then, and I wouldn't want to go there

 

[Lokalaskurar]

Not just physiological apperance, infact the possibilities are endless then, and I wouldn't want to go there

Yeah, kind of what I ever so slightly indicated with "the natural order of things"
Don't want no cellular hacker altering "my physiological appearance"